In a landmark event, the Made in India Dornier aircraft of HAL was flagged off by Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday. The flight will connect Dibrugarh-Pasighat-Tezu and Lilabari. 

The event marks a new era of Civil Aviation in the Northeast. The aircraft will start commercial operations on April 18. Scindia boarded the Dornier flight in Dibrugarh and landed in Pasighat where it was given the traditional water cannon welcome. After attending a public event in Pasighat, which was also attended by Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu and Union Minister of Law & Social Justice Kiren Rijiju among others. 

After the event in Pasighat, Scindia took off in the same aircraft to Lilabari Airport in North Lakhimpur, where again it was given the traditional water cannon welcome to mark the maiden landing.

“Overjoyed and proud to embark on the 17-seater ‘Made in India’ Dornier 228 aircraft in its first ever maiden service,” Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was among the first passengers, tweeted.

“This will connect the airstrips of Arunachal Pradesh with Assam, and soon with other regions. Indeed, a new chapter in India’s ‘Look East’ policy,” he added.

Union law and justice minister Kiren Rijiju, who’s from Arunachal Pradesh, was also present on the occasion. He further added "This is a historic day in the civil aviation sector of the Northeast.” Stating further that more and more airfields and heliports of Arunachal Pradesh will be connected under the UDAN scheme, he said, "There are many places where fixed-wing aircraft cannot go due to difficult terrain, we will connect those places through helicopters." 

Addressing the public, the Union Civil Aviation Minister said that a huge investment is being made in the civil aviation sector in the Northeast to connect the region with domestic and international destinations. He also said that the Hollongi Greenfield Airport near Itanagar, which will be the first major Airport in Arunachal Pradesh, will be completed in the next 3-4 months. 

It may be mentioned that these Made in India Dornier aircraft will be operated by Alliance Air, a unit of Air India under the UDAN scheme. Considering the difficult terrain of the Northeast and particularly Arunachal Pradesh, the pilots of these aircraft are ex-air force pilots, who will offer training to the Alliance Air pilots in the due course of time. 

Image source: Hindustan Times